Sunday, October 30, 2011

antique dresser redo

Are you ready for a sad story? I saw this online and loved it (it has a mirror that goes with it). The lady who was selling it said she had stripped it which is why I assumed it looked the way it did. That was fine-less work for me, right? So, I had Craig pick it up for me. It was late when he got home, so we put it in the garage and I didn't look too closely at it. The next day we took it to his shop and I realized, in the light of day, how rough it was. I mean it was REALLY rough! I thought surely stripping it wouldn't do that to it. After working on it for a few days I realized they had stripped it by sand blasting it!! I usually don't give advice because I stink at it, but here's some advice--DON"T STRIP AN ANTIQUE BY SAND BLASTING IT!!! please :)

Before

After

I call this French Blue --yes, I made it up ;). It's hard to tell if it's blue or gray and that's what I like about it!

So, even after some serious sanding the drawers were still pretty rough (you can see the grooves in the wood)--but I think they tell part of her story now. Check out the keyholes--love that!

I was going to keep the original hardware until I realized it wasn't the original hardware and then I thought--why should I keep it if it's ugly and it's not the original? After all this poor thing has been through I thought she at least deserved some pretty pulls--so that's what she got!

The top was just as bad as the rest of it. Sanding just wasn't going to do the job and I knew I wanted to stain it so it had to look good. Bless Craig's heart--he took the grinder to it. DIY'ers: this is not recommended! It took some heavy sanding after that, but I think it turned out great. I also love that you can see where they nailed the top down. That's old school! :)

Just goes to show something beat up and worn out can still be made beautiful!

SOLD

Side note: I still have the mirror, but it was really rough and because it was so ornate could not be sanded. I painted it, but didn't like the way it turned out, so now I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. :(

About Me

I love working with my hands--gardening, painting, scrapbooking, wood working....creating. A very wise man said creating is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul--LOVE that!! There is just something about transforming old into new, and I'm happiest when I am doing just that. I love when someone in my family says, "What are you doing now?!"